Reports

This report results from a partnership between the State of Florida and College Measures. It focuses on the median first-year earnings of recent graduates and completers1 from Florida’s public postsecondary educational institutions: the State University System of Florida (SUS), the Florida College System (FCS), and District Technical Centers (DTCs).2 The report documents the variation in first-year earnings for students who earned degrees or certificates from these three systems of postsecondary education. The report also presents data on the percentage of graduates and completers from various institutions that are receiving public assistance, as well as the percentage enrolled in continuing education programs. Debt accumulated by all students (not just graduates) is also reported. The results show that the type of degrees students earn, and where they earn them, matters.

Information in this report comes from three main data sources: Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP) from the Florida Department of Education, Wage Record Interchange System 2 (WRIS2),3 and the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Student Financial Assistance. The data discussed in this report reflect outcomes for graduates and completers in their first year after graduation for a 5-year period from academic years 2007–08 to 2011–12. Although the data represent employment and earnings outcomes, the data do not include information about the graduate’s occupation and whether they are employed in their field of study.

Florida College System and District Technical Centers

The bachelor’s degree and the associate’s in arts (A.A.) degree are the two most commonly awarded degrees in Florida. The A.A. degree is designed as a pathway to the bachelor’s degree. The median first-year earnings of graduates with these degrees are lower, however, than those of graduates from many other degree and certificate programs. For example, graduates with an associate’s in science (A.S.) degree had median earnings more than $11,000 higher than graduates with bachelor’s degrees and almost $18,000 higher than graduates with A.A. degrees who are in the labor market.

State University System of Florida Degrees and Florida College System Bachelor’s Degrees

Median first-year earnings of graduates with bachelor’s degrees varied from less than $22,400 (New College of Florida) to more than $35,000 (Florida International University). Some of this variation is related to the economic climate in the areas of the state to which these campuses serve and where students choose to work.

During the 5-year study period, campuses in the FCS awarded almost 10,000 bachelor’s degrees. These degrees were concentrated in a small number of relatively high-paying fields. In turn, the median first-year earnings of graduates with bachelor’s degrees from Florida’s colleges (around $41,000) were higher than those of graduates with bachelor’s degrees from Florida’s universities (more than $33,000).

Where the Jobs Are

The report also presents data on the industries and occupations that are likely to be most in demand over the next 10 years.

The three industries with the fastest growth in Florida are related to construction. With annual growth of more than 3.7%, the field of Specialty Trade Contractors is projected to grow the fastest through 2021.

Tennessee has a reputation for being a leader in reform efforts to improve education at both the K–12 and postsecondary levels. Through the “Drive to 55” education initiative, Governor Bill Haslam has put the improvement of Tennessee’s higher education at the center of his tenure. The initiative challenges the state to increase the percentage of adults with postsecondary credentials from 36% to 55% by 2025. In pursuit of this effort, Tennessee has introduced several collegegoing and postsecondary completion initiatives, including changing the delivery of developmental coursework, offering free community college tuition for recent high school graduates, recruiting adults without degrees to reenter institutions of higher education, and better aligning postsecondary offerings with workforce opportunities across the state.

College Measures’ new EduTrendsTN website (http://www.edutrendstn.com), developed in partnership with the State of Tennessee, supports these initiatives by providing prospective students and their families with information about higher education costs, benefits, and affordability and delivering insights into employment demand and wage potential across many fields. This website delivers important information to Tennesseans so they can make better informed decisions about their choices of colleges, credentials, and fields of study. The EduTrendsTN project should also increase consumers’ awareness of careers in high demand and where students who complete various kinds of postsecondary credentials will be more likely to find jobs.

This report highlights just some of the information that can be found on the EduTrendsTN website (http://www.edutrendstn.com). The following are some of the noteworthy findings from our study on the labor market success of postsecondary education completers.

Subbaccalaureate Credentials

• Nearly 90,000 bachelor’s degrees were granted during the five academic years (from Academic Year 2006–07 to Academic Year 2010–11) covered for this report. While bachelor’s degrees are the most commonly awarded postsecondary credentials in the state’s public system of higher education, more than 84,000 subbaccalaureate credentials—including associate’s degrees, diplomas, and certificates—were awarded from 2006–07 to 2010–11. Subbaccalaureate credentials are often designed to prepare students for careers in a specific field related to postsecondary training that students received.

Associate’s Degrees

• Among the 10 associate’s degree programs with the highest number of completers statewide, those in four of the programs earned wages that were below the state median for all associate’s degrees 1 and 5 years after graduation. The four programs were Business Administration, Business Operations, Liberal Arts, and Management Information Services. Of these, graduates with degrees in Management Information Services also experienced the lowest rate of wage growth among the 10 largest programs.

Bachelor’s Degrees

• Among bachelor’s graduates, there is wide variation in the earnings associated with different instructional programs. In contrast, there is less variation across the earnings of graduates from different universities across the state. This may reflect the facts that graduates from universities tend to be less tied to the local labor market and many graduates from institutions in smaller markets may migrate to larger ones. But the fact remains that if students don’t get into the University of Tennessee, Knoxville—the state’s flagship university—they can graduate from many other universities across the state and do as well in the labor market.

Labor Market Demand for Postsecondary Completers

• In some fields, many more people are completing training than will likely find employment in that field. In other fields, the state projects many more openings relative to the number of people with the training to fill those openings. The fields of Cosmetology and Journalism are projected to have large numbers of students completing education or training relative to the number of job openings projected to exist. These are relatively low paying fields, but some fields with large numbers of completers relative to openings are high paying—for example, Aviation Maintenance, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, and Business Management.

Calculating how much recent graduates earn after completing their degree is one way for policymakers to assess the return on state and federal investments in higher education. It’s also an important consideration for students and families, who want at least some assurance that the burden of student loan debt taken on today will be offset by higher earnings in the future. Although the Obama Administration has focused on improving accountability and transparency concerning the cost of higher education, states are leading the way on collecting earnings data about their college and university graduates.

The American Institutes for Research, through CollegeMeasures™, has partnered with seven states to give policymakers and consumers access to data documenting the labor market success of their graduates. This report describes several lessons about how to turn complex data about education and wages into useful information that can improve the lives of students and families:

School-level reporting isn’t enough.

Consider combining several cohorts of graduates, not just the most recent year’s.

Be transparent about who is and isn’t included in recent graduates’ wage reports.

When possible, report both short-term and long-term wage outcomes.

In addition to reporting on wages, report on students’ loan debt at completion.

This report, the result of a partnership between the State
of Florida and College Measures, focuses on the median first-year earnings of
recent graduates/completers from two-year and four-year institutions across
Florida as well as District Technical Centers. It documents the variation in
first-year earnings for graduates of specific degree programs at specific
colleges and universities. The report also presents data on the percentage of
graduates/completers from various institutions that are receiving public
assistance, as well as the percentage enrolled in continuing education. Debt
accumulated by students, not just graduates, also is reported. The results show
that the degrees and certificates students earn, and where they earn them,
matter.

Among
the findings in this report:

Florida
State Colleges and District Technical Centers

The bachelor’s degree and the associate of arts (A.A.)
degree, designed as a pathway to the bachelor’s degree, are the two most commonly
awarded degrees in Florida. The median first-year earnings of graduates with
these degrees are lower, however, than those of graduates of many other degree
and certificate programs. For example, graduates with an associate in science
(A.S.) degree have median earnings that are more than $11,000 higher than
graduates with bachelor’s degrees and almost $20,000 higher than graduates with
A.A. degrees who are in the labor market.

The graduate’s field of study can greatly affect early
career earnings. The median first-year earnings of a graduate with an A.S.
degree in child care provider/assistant are around $25,000. A graduate with an
A.S. degree in nursing can expect twice as much, and graduates who earned an
A.S. degree as an emergency medical technician-paramedic can expect even more.

There is a range of median first-year earnings across
programs awarding the same degree in the same field of study. Median first-year
earnings for emergency medicine technology–paramedic range from less than
$50,000 (College of Central Florida and Santa Fe College) to around $65,000 or
more (Palm Beach State College, Miami Dade College, Indian River State College,
Edison State College, and Broward College).

The average federal debt level per student in 2010–11 across
Florida state colleges ranges from less than $3,000 at Pensacola State College,
Northwest Florida State College, and Florida Gateway College to more than
$5,000 per student at St. Petersburg College; Florida Keys Community College;
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota; College of Central Florida; Valencia
College; St. Johns River State College; and Broward College.

District Technical Centers issued far more career
Postsecondary Adult Vocational (PSAV) certificates than did Florida colleges.
PSAV certificates issued by District Technical Centers accounted for more than
60% of all the certificates awarded in the state.

However, graduates with certificates from the Florida
College System (FCS) are more successful in the labor market. For example, 76%
of college graduates/completers who were awarded PSAV certificates were found
to be employed compared with 68% with PSAV certificates from District Technical
Centers. In addition, the median first-year earnings for the five-year period of
study (academic years 2006–07 through 2010–11) of graduates/completers from
colleges were higher ($34,628) than the earnings ($28,028) of those with
certificates from District Technical Centers.

More than 15% of graduates/completers who have earned PSAV
certificates in District Technical Centers received public assistance, almost
double the percentage of those who earned their degrees and certificates from
Florida’s state colleges.

Students earning associate’s degrees are less likely to have
received public assistance than students who earn certificates.

Florida’s Universities

There is variation in the median earnings of graduates with
bachelor’s degrees from less than $30,000 at Florida Agricultural and
Mechanical (A&M) University to more than $36,000 at Florida International
University. Some of this variation is no doubt related to the different economic
areas of the state where these campuses serve and students choose to work.

The median wages of graduates of four universities
(University of Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of
South Florida, and the University of North Florida) were within $750 of each
other, suggesting many university pathways into the labor market that employers
value at roughly the same level.

Graduates with degrees in psychology, one of the most
popular fields of study in state universities, have low first-year earnings,
around $6,000 less than the statewide median. Graduates with degrees in
political science and English language and literature also fall toward the
bottom of the earnings distribution.

Among the highest paid graduates are those with degrees in
business-related fields (business administration, finance, and accounting). In
contrast, graduates with degrees in marketing, another business-related field,
have lower first-year earnings.

The median statewide federal loan amount per university
student is slightly more than $8,000. The amount varies, however, from around
$5,100 at Florida Gulf Coast University to more than $13,000 at the University
of Florida. Because this amount includes disbursements to both graduate and
undergraduate students, there may be some upward pressure on the amount reported
in research universities such as Florida State University and the University of
Florida. Moreover, this is only federally issued debt, and other sources of
loans students may be using to help finance their education are not included in
this estimate.

During the five-year study period, Florida state colleges
awarded more than 6,000 bachelor’s degrees, concentrated in a small number of
relatively high-paying fields. In turn, the median first-year earnings of
graduates with bachelor’s degrees from Florida’s colleges (around $41,800) are
higher than those of graduates with bachelor’s degrees from Florida’s
universities (slightly more than $33,600).

Graduates with master’s degrees earn more, often far more,
than graduates with only bachelor’s degrees. The median first-year earnings of
graduates with master’s degrees in Florida is around $49,000 compared with less
than $34,000 for graduates with bachelor’s degrees.

For field of study, the earnings gained for having a
master’s degree, compared with only a bachelor’s degree, range from around
$5,000 (elementary education and teaching) to more than $25,000 for several
business degree programs and nursing.

Where the Jobs Are

The report also presents data on the industries and
occupations that are likely to be most in demand in future years. Following are
some findings.

The top three industries with the fastest growth in Florida
are related to construction with specialty trade contractors projected to grow
the fastest from 2013 to 2021 with annual growth of +3.72%.

The health care industry is also projected to grow rapidly
due to population gains, the aging population, and improved medical
technologies.

Another way to look at where the jobs are is to see which
industries will be creating the most new jobs, regardless of the growth rate.
Some fast-growing industries are relatively small, others are much larger. For
example, ambulatory health care services and professional, scientific, and
technical services are expected to add numerous new jobs, and both have high growth
rates. In contrast, two industries, hospitals and administrative and support
services, have lower growth rates, but because they are large industries, will
add many more jobs than most of the faster growing industries.

Some occupations will have a greater demand relative to
supply. Florida projects that only 572 graduates with the academic credentials
to become physical therapists will be produced by state colleges and
universities between now and 2021. The estimated industry demand, however, is for
more than 2,000 therapists during this time, leaving a shortage of around 1,500
trained individuals. Physical therapists are well compensated.

Similarly, Florida colleges and universities will produce
far fewer securities and financial service sales agents than projected industry
demand (a shortage of some 1,800 graduates). These graduates are among the most
highly paid graduates in the state.

In addition to www.beyondeducation.org, readers interested
in more information may want to visit the following sites:

What People are Asking (WPAA) http://www.whatpeopleareasking.com/index.shtm is designed to retrieve Florida
job and wage data by area. It features Hot Jobs, What Hot Jobs Pay, and other information
of interest to students and parents.

Higher education is one of the most important investments that people make. And most students make this investment because they want a better chance to land a good career and higher earnings. But as they enter the labor market, some graduates earn far more than others. Graduates with the same major but from different schools can take home substantially different amounts of money. And earnings vary widely among graduates from the same school who have chosen different majors.

Based on information from five states that have shared earnings data with College MeasuresTM, this report shows that several factors influence earnings, including what degree graduates earn, what school awarded their degree, and the field in which the degree is earned. Right choices can lead to good careers and high earnings, but wrong ones can leave graduates with mountains of debt and poor prospects of ever paying off their student loans. Meanwhile, high debt is a national

problem: cumulative student debt now tops $1 trillion, and increasing numbers of students are not paying back their loans on time.

Because college credentials are usually associated with higher earnings, taking on reasonable debt or paying high tuition are not necessarily bad choices. Instead, the problem is that too few students know their potential earnings before they enroll in a postsecondary institution and before they take out loans to pay for their education.

Prospective students need sound information about where their educational choices are likely to lead. This information can save students money, keep them from making bad choices, and prevent a lot of future financial headaches.

Parents, students, and political leaders have been asking for better evidence of what happens to graduates after they enter the labor market. Although the federal government is making strides in this area,4 many states are far ahead on collecting earnings data about graduates of colleges and universities. College MeasuresTM is working with many of these leading states to make available to the public information about how much graduates earn.

Since mid-2012, with the support of the Lumina Foundation, College MeasuresTM has partnered with the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to put the earnings of graduates in the public’s eye. With these data, anyone can learn about the earnings that graduates will likely earn for every program of study among colleges and universities in the state. In all states, earnings data now cover only the early careers of graduates.

These five states differ from each other in important ways—for example, in the strength of their overall and regional economies. But earnings data reveal some patterns across these states. Four lessons can be culled from these patterns. These lessons should help students make smarter decisions about what to study and how much to borrow.